Mortality
by Kato Chinatsu
Summary: "A lifetime is enough." Gods who lived immortal lives never did understand the concept behind that. [Sons of gods! AkaKuro]


_**Kato**__: In line with AkaKuro Week 2014._

_**Concept of the Story**__: "A lifetime is enough." Gods who lived immortal lives never did understand the concept behind that._

_**Disclaimer**__: Kuroko no Basket belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi._

_If the story is not appealing to the respective reader, feel free to press the back button. Thank you for the consideration of reading this!_

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_No matter where we are, my soul will always find yours._

* * *

_The start of a lifetime had always been a fixed and decisive point. Where it ends lies entirely on the journey one is willing to take it along._

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The human life was but a mere hundred years, give and take what the keeper of time would be willing to offer. Such a short span for a lifetime. But if that life was lived with fulfillment, a lifetime should be enough. The gods never understood the true value of mortality as they were bound to live eternal lives. To them, mortality was but a curse; a judgment brought forth by the king of the gods, _Zeus _himself, in dissatisfaction of what he had created. No one understood his intention... No one but two.

For half a century, their souls had been reincarnated into various human vessels, watching over them from the dwellings of the gods when their bodies were of an unconscious state. Repeatedly, they experience the blessing of birth and the excruciating strike of death, and found... somewhere along the lives that they have lived something to cherish about mortality.

"What is the son of _Gaea _doing on his own?"

"_Vasiliá mou..._"

The low and velvet voice of the son of _Zeus _failed to startle the other god as the light mysterious hue of powder-blue orbs softly acknowledged heterochromatic liquid crimson and dazzling raw sienna.

_Is one lifetime enough?_

"There is no need to address to me with that. We are both sons of gods; of equal importance," the son of _Zeus _spoke softly as he approached the young god.

Perched over the edge of the boundary between the world of humans and gods, the son of _Gaea _admired with thoughtful eyes the sight of their unconscious human vessels under the blanket of the unworldly beauty of the celestial bodies and eternal midnight blue starry sky.

"Well then... _Katoch__í_. What brings you here?" was the polite inquiry.

The rustling of the dew-covered grass was the only indication of movement from behind of him.

"Do I need to have a certain... specific reason to see my mate, _Skía_?" was the soft response. "Or better yet... Tetsuya."

Amusement was evident in said god's feature as light pink lips curled beautifully into a miniscule smile, barely evident and solely for the sight of the other god. Sparing their human vessels one final glance, he turned to face his mate.

Heterochromatic hues silently admired the surreal beauty that was of his mate. Adoring such an angelic face were naturally disheveled blue locks, curling slightly inwards at the tips to frame the face lovingly. Alike his own, a purely white robe covered the expanse of body, a loose gold belt encircling his petite waist. But with the position that the bluenette was in, the milky white expanse of his flawless legs were exposed. If his mate was not a god like him, he would have mistaken him for a temptress sent by his father's brother, _Hades_. No god or goddess could simply compare to the beauty that was presented right before his eyes. A golden headdress rested upon his head, a symbol of his stature as a god and of his origin.

The only son of the highly respected goddess, _Gaea _the goddess of the Earth.

"You've become fond of my current human name... Akashi-kun," was the amused response.

A hand was raised delicately to beckon forth the son of _Zeus _whom firmly took the offer as he sat by his mate, cradling the offered hand carefully in his own hands before lifting it up to thin lips.

"But of course. It is your name after all."

A small kiss was placed atop the back of the bluenette's hand as that was spoken. They diverted their attention to their human vessels once again, silently watching the peacefulness in their features.

The son of _Gaea _resided upon the human vessel by the name of Kuroko Tetsuya whereas the son of _Zeus _dwelled in the body of Akashi Seijuuro. Both human vessels were undoubtedly unaware of that significant fact though, but the souls of said gods differ. After all, it was in their own image that these vessels had been repetitively created by the keeper of time, approved upon by the king of the gods himself.

It was the curiosity of immortality that led them to their situation. With the half a century spent in a transition of living and dying, they already had an elaborate image of mortality. It was not a curse, but a blessing. But all of the gods and goddesses, and almost none of the humans understood that. Immortality placed upon human life would be utterly painful.

Kuroko glanced sideways at his mate, his pupils becoming fixated at a specific point on the young god's body. Powder-blue hues saddened considerably, relieving a memory that was by far... two lifetimes ago. Unconsciously, he reached out a hand towards his mate's chest, tracing a specific expanse of skin with utmost delicacy.

_It is beating. It always would._

"I'm alive," Akashi uttered with utmost confidence, well aware of the very memory circling through his mate's mind.

"I know," was the quiet response as the bluenette rested his left ear where his beating heart rested upon.

1945. Towards the end of the Second World War.

He could never forget the sight of those mismatched lifeless eyes wherein streak of tears pooled before cascading down pale cheeks, drying up with the time that had passed before his body was found. The sight of his bloodied gaping chest where he was directly shot in the heart was forever engrained upon his memory, to never be forgotten even with the passing of time. Most of all, the coldness of the skin of his mate's dead hand encompassed by his trembling ones.

They had both died a dozen times. But that was a death most excruciating to live with.

Humans had been foolish creatures for quite a long time, doing every single means to attain their heart's desire without taking a glance of what truly is important in their lives.

The process of dying had never been painful. It was the process of dying alone that was difficult to bear.

"We could stop living through the lives of mortals. The decision is up to you."

The gift of mortality is such that there is a decisive time of death. Humans could easily die when they wish to - should they dare to. There was no need to watch others die before you whereas you live on. Upon death, recollections of human life becomes utterly redundant. Whereas in immortality, forever you would live with the grief of people continuously dying before your very eyes. There was no end to that maddening cycle.

Mortality would always be about satisfaction and fulfillment. That was the only aspect that humans greatly considered. Once achieved, they could die with contentment, without a care of where their souls would end up in the end.

_A lifetime is enough._

"I would like to see how this lifetime would end for us first," Kuroko answered, raising his head from his mate's chest so that his mate could stand up.

"If that is what you desire," Akashi agreed, lifting himself up from the ground, only to glance at his vessel with a guarded expression. "Granted for this to be the last lifetime we have to live as mortals."

A noticeable frown.

"Why is that, _Vasiliá mou_?"

"Losing you repeatedly has become quite maddening. Two lifetimes ago, we met a tragic fate I rather not experience all over again."

"I am sure that I do not wish to lose you the same way again, _Skía_," the son of _Zeus _concluded firmly, smoothing out his expression.

"As do I, _Vasiliá mou_," was Kuroko's agreement.

"I have consulted _Gaea. _She agreed with me just as much. We are gods, not mortals. If you so cherish them, we simply have to play our duties from atop Mount Olympus."

"Is that what you wish for, my king?" Kuroko politely inquired.

A shake of his head.

"It is what I greatly desire," was the simple response.

The bluenette remained silent, permitting the silence to settle within them. Brushing one of his hands on the ground, his eyes watched in nonchalance as he forced a few blue hyacinths to bloom in a seemingly fast-forward phase from the soil. Offspring of gods do not par in power with comparison to their origin. However, just as with the name that they bear came along their possession to control the same expanse as their parent god. Thus, just as the most high _Gaea _had Earth in her hands, her son possess adequate ability to manipulate nature in a snap of his fingers.

Humming a soft tune to himself, he began weaving a flower crown with nimble fingers moving of precision and familiarity. Throughout the entire process, he hummed a painfully sweet tune overflowing with pure mixed-up emotions that seemed to convey the memories surfacing from his mind. Bitter-sweet memories of past lives and fragments of forgotten transitions in time... The tune fleeted along the wind as smoothly as silk would brush the skin. The melody, the other god gathered, was delivering a story. Perhaps, of their past lives that Kuroko could not let go. Memories to be cherished... memories to be abhorred... memories to be reminisced... memories to be forgotten. It was a story of the inseparable fated gods who lived and died a dozen lives.

"This life..." Kuroko spoke up, raising his head by a fraction as soon as he finished weaving the crown. "You are willing to live this dull life."

It was not an assumption nor a question.

"This life happens to be a life of immortality with you," was the simple response.

Gathering himself up to his feet with the flower crown in one of his hands, Kuroko strode over to his mate's side in order to place the flower crown upon his head. Looking pointedly at the male briefly, he snapped his fingers once, causing a shudder to slip from the redhead's composure as a gust of icy cold wind and blistering heat fleeted from behind them. Akashi need not look behind to know what his mate did. The cascading crisp autumn leaves, fragrant pelargonium petals and the stinging coldness of snowflakes were enough of indication.

"An immortal's life is dull," Kuroko stated, glancing at the four distinctively altered trees by his mate's back. A representation of the four seasons: summer, spring, fall, and winter. "And we have yet to live a lifetime."

The four seasons: summer, spring, fall, and winter. A close representation of the transition of a mortal's life.

Summer represents birth.

Spring represents adolescence.

Fall represents maturity.

Winter represents death.

Despite the process being short and hardly fulfilling, that was, in truth, what a lifetime is supposed to be.

In incredulity of the bluenette's remark, a smooth brow was arched in question of that statement.

"We have lived dozens."

"No..."

A shake of his head.

Raising one of his hands carefully, he took grasp of Akashi's hands, lifting it up to his lips to press a kiss atop each.

_A lifetime is enough._

"We have not lived through a lifetime," the bluenette answered, allowing a small smile to slip from his lips.

This lifetime of an immortal's...

That lifetime is enough.

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_Thank you for reading._


End file.
